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I first joined Lemmy back during the big Reddit exodus of last year. I like many others wanted an alternative to Reddit, and I thought that this might've been the one. I made two accounts, one on lemmy.world and another on sh.itjust.works, in the June of last year that I used on and off for about 4 months.

At first Lemmy was exciting because it was so active. There were so many new users who were enthusiastic about turning this platform into a genuine alternative. There was a communal effort to create and interact with content, and for awhile it worked. Lemmy was truly interesting during the summer of last year. However, this stream of dedicated users started to slowly decline.

A lot of people hoped that if they were active, they would attract and retain more users to this place to the point where the community would foster interest specific communities like Reddit, but that never happened. After a few months, a lot of users lost interest and went back to Reddit where the userbase is so massive that there is an active community for just about anything.

With this reverse exodus back to Reddit, Lemmy ended up with the same groups that were active on it before hand: political extremists, tech nerds, privacy enthusiasts, and shitposters. To be fair, all these groups are larger now than they were a year ago, but that's all this platform has to offer. If you're into any of these things and primarly these things then Lemmy can be a good alternative to Reddit, but for the general masses? Lemmy is just not good.

For example, a NBA post on the NBA subreddit can get you thousands of interactions in a couple of hours. An NBA post on here will maybe get you a dozen over the course of a couple of days. The only content that will gain any traction here are tech news, political propaganda, and maybe some memes. I don't see this changing any time soon. Even if Reddit implodes, I still think Lemmy will remain a niche platform. I think this evident by the fact that this platform hasn't really progressed in a year.

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[-] Boozilla@lemmy.world 107 points 4 months ago

Lemmy is missing:

  • Bots
  • Karma farmers
  • Ads
  • Insane mods
  • Fucking Spez

You know you're right, we're nothing like reddit!!

[-] morphballganon@lemmy.world 17 points 4 months ago

Actually I have heard of some insane mods

[-] Kaboom@reddthat.com 9 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Fucking gallowboob, is he still a thing?

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[-] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 63 points 4 months ago

I don’t think it is failed. It has reached self-sustaining levels for many topics. It will need further growth to make smaller, niche topics self-sustaining. Whether this growth will take place is an open question. I know my instance is growing in terms of activity, but I’m not sure how others are faring.

But as long as it isn’t shrinking, I think it’s well-positioned to absorb more growth as users discover it or become disillusioned with Reddit or other sites in the future.

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[-] vk6flab@lemmy.radio 52 points 4 months ago

I am part of the Reddit exodus. I'm here because I have no interest in promoting or supporting the atrocious policies that now govern Reddit.

The pace here is different, but the interactions feel more measured.

Based on being online since 1990, I'm comfortable with being an "early adopter", even though I've only been here for a few months and Lemmy is five years old.

Will Lemmy survive? Who knows. The horse and buggy didn't, neither did Yahoo!, MySpace or Google+, but here we are nonetheless.

I like it here.

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[-] MyOpinion@lemm.ee 47 points 4 months ago

I now turn to Lemmy daily. It is anything but failed.

[-] MikeOToxin@lemmy.world 39 points 4 months ago

But why do you care about engagement with your online posts? Is your opinion that important? Or is it just your need for external validation from the faceless masses?

Either way, some introspection may be good here.

Or, ya know, just go back to reddit, whatever dude.

[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 16 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I mean... People come to social media to, you know.... Socialize. I don't post shit and just want upvotes. I wanna talk to people about whatever the post is about.

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[-] Gorilladrums21@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

The whole point of social media is to interact with others... I don't understand what you're point is here. You just seem mad because I said something you don't like.

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[-] KazuchijouNo@lemy.lol 31 points 4 months ago

You might be right, Lemmy is not for the masses... I would consider myself a tech nerd, privacy enthusiast and shitposter; so migrating from Reddit was the best thing to ever happen to me. This place feels like a real home where I can share my interests with people who are incredibly helpful, kind and passionate about what they do. This place is a heaven for people trying to escape corporate and mass media. And I agree with you, Lemmy is a failed Reddit alternative, because it's not a Reddit alternative, I don't see it like that anymore. People here are genuine, I love that <3

[-] Today@lemmy.world 15 points 4 months ago

Not a tech nerd or privacy enthusiast -just an old mom who occasionally shitcomments. I like it here.

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[-] Blaze@reddthat.com 28 points 4 months ago

At least 3 communities thar are not "tech news, political propaganda and memes"

Feel free to contribute there, I guess it's easier to criticize than build something

[-] lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org 11 points 4 months ago

Not to mention everything community about cats!

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[-] ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 26 points 4 months ago

This is a screenshot of the activity in this community. It looks ok to me...

[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 15 points 4 months ago

I kinda wish they had posts/comments per day included. Users per day doesn't mean much; feels like it just counts views that had no interaction as I can see with a couple communities I moderate that get ~100 users a day, but nothing is being voted on, posted or commented.

[-] aciDC14@lemmy.world 25 points 4 months ago

Everything being mainstream is the reason the internet is becoming so shitty.

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[-] zecg@lemmy.world 24 points 4 months ago

I thought I liked it and that it had enough users, thank you for setting me straight.

[-] morphballganon@lemmy.world 23 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

You are entitled to delete your Lemmy app of choice and return to the corporate-approved Reddit(TM) content-consumption experience.

[-] sndmn@lemmy.ca 21 points 4 months ago

What you should have posted was nothing.

[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 20 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I feel the exact opposite.

Lemmy is great because the sports guys and other normies aren't here.

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[-] ChowJeeBai@lemmy.world 17 points 4 months ago

Lemmy works for me, Reddit doesn't. I only use reddit now for porn.

[-] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 9 points 4 months ago
[-] ChowJeeBai@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago

Nah. As people like to point out, much more uh, special interest groups in Reddit. I don't need the community aspects for that kinda stuff.

Unless you're into that.

[-] Johanno@feddit.org 17 points 4 months ago

Well well well.

This is a weird way to see it.

You have definitely less people here than on reddit. And the kind of people that even consider leaving reddit because of the reason we left and then chosen lemmy are usually mostly tech nerds. Other people don't care and stay at reddit or twitter or go to the Facebook clone threads.

Your goal here should be information, fun and entertainment.

I personally also read reddit aside to lemmy, but I first go to lemmy and then to reddit. Yes reddit is bigger and has a more active community but it is mostly toxic and ads infested. Without revanced I couldn't stand it.

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[-] Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me 17 points 4 months ago

Lemmy wasn't ready and still mostly not ready for a mass Reddit exodus. The Reddit API fiasco wasn't anticipated by anybody and the large influx of users exposed a ton of bugs and federation issues.

But it's not a failure, yet. I'm sure Reddit had growing pains after the Digg exodus too. Some platforms take years to become popular. Reddit was small for quite a while before it became more mainstream.

In a way to me Lemmy feels a bit like Reddit must have been a few years before I joined it 12 years ago.

The problem is the expectation that Lemmy could replace Reddit overnight, and would immediately be a 1:1 replacement.

Although personally I like it more here, and I get more interactions than Reddit. But I am a tech nerd, so.

[-] mbfalzar@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 4 months ago

I was on reddit slightly before subreddits were added as functionality, so 16ish years, and lemmy to me just feels like that 2008ish reddit except most of the userbase is 40 instead of 18

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[-] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 16 points 4 months ago

And we will still be here when Reddit finally does implode. Either from high interest rates and not being able to raise money or whatever we will still be here.

[-] Rooki@lemmy.world 16 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Could i ask how can you be one of the reddit exodus users if your account is 2 days old?

If you wanna leave lemmy do it on your main account to proof you are one of the over a year old accounts.

That we can salute and press F to the fallen user.

[-] n3m37h@sh.itjust.works 8 points 4 months ago

I'm pressing X to Doubt this post

[-] rrrurboatlibad@lemdro.id 14 points 4 months ago

Meh, it works for me. I like it here more than reddit. Sorry that you haven't found your groove. It toom me a while of finding the right things to subscribe and right folks to follow before my feed felt fun and interesting. I use Lemmy as a jumping off point for rabbit holes that are interesting to me

[-] over_clox@lemmy.world 14 points 4 months ago

If you don't like Lemmy, you already know where to go. Enjoy Spez, the ads, the selling of your data to train AI, etc..

[-] echo@lemmings.world 11 points 4 months ago

I've been noticing a lot of Reddit's undesirables making their way over here. Same whiny little shits whose only purpose in life is to be trolls.

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[-] kbal@fedia.io 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I'd not yet call it failed, but it's not yet fully succeeded either. To my mind, one impediment is something that lemmy.world shares with today's reddit: If you look at the front page it's 99% memes and images. That's the first impression people get, and it probably drives away a lot of people who might want anything else. We need those people to make more text-based communities come alive, if it's to evolve into anything like the old reddit.

I mean obviously there are lots of people who do mostly want to see memes and that's fine, but I think it's getting to the point where it might be useful to have an option that filters out all posts that are just a title and an image.

[-] mozz@mbin.grits.dev 9 points 4 months ago

political extremists, tech nerds, privacy enthusiasts, and shitposters

Dude thank god

I miss my old nerd internet. I won’t say you’re wrong for wanting something that isn’t that, but I personally wish it was more that way than it currently is. SDF or mander is honestly a lot closer to how I like the culture and interactions to be, than Lemmy.world. I was super psyched when I came on and there were all these communists and science weirdos.

for the general masses? Lemmy is just not good.

For example, a NBA post on the NBA subreddit can get you thousands of interactions in a couple of hours. An NBA post on here will maybe get you a dozen over the course of a couple of days.

Honestly, when sports started showing up on the main page of Reddit it was confusing and alarming to me. I recognize that I am the weird one here (from the POV of the ordinary person society), but I much prefer just having my nerd stuff and having it be unencumbered by any normal person stuff

I think we actually have exactly the same view of Lemmy and its accurate position in relation to most normal people, just disagreeing over whether that is or isn’t a good thing

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[-] jimmydoreisalefty@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago

Change is not easy, it takes time and people willing to help foster that new change.

I am one of those people that is really into politics, but I try to interact with other communities once in a while!

It is an election year, so politics is always in an all time high on any forums and social media.

I suggest, if you are willing, to step up your game and be really active in the communites you would like to see flourish.

It may be lonely, but it tends to be when starting new things!

We are all trying the best we can, when we can, I give props to the lemmyverse and fediverse for all they do!

Thanks for posting, even if you used a burner account!

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[-] Phegan@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago

Studies find that the vast majority of users on a platform are passive participants, the vast majority only look, a smaller group looks and comments and finally an even smaller group looks, comment and post. The key to growing any community is to find or be an active poster. It's also an investment, if you post and get only 1 to 2 reactions, that's okay, it takes time. It also means that more people see it and didn't react.

In your example the NBA sub, I am on it and comment from time to time, but don't have the sources or time to post, but if someone took, at least, the links from reddit and posted them here, it's a start. I know NBA reddit has a lot of good discussions which you can't replicate here without more people, but the posting of articles and links is a start.

[-] thesocavault@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago

He has some very valid points. Outside of what he says, it's a challenge at times to build good conversations. Now we are all good for some laughs, but sometimes if you disagree with whatever meme was posted or whatever was posted, the minions come after you. It's almost like you get extreme views and not honest conversations. I find this on different Fediverse applications

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this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2024
-128 points (19.5% liked)

Fediverse

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